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Organizational identification
Organizational Identification (OID) is the sense of oneness individuals have with an organization and the degree to which individuals define themselves as organization members.Ashforth B. E., & Mael F. A. (1989). Social Identity Theory and the Organization. Academy of Management Review, 14, 20-39.Cheney G. (1983). On the various and changing meanings of organizational membership: A field study of organizational identification. Communication Monographs, 50, 342-362.Dutton J. E., Dukerich J. M., & Harquail C. V. (1994). Organizational Images and Member Identification. Administrative Science Quarterly, 39, 239-263.Pratt, M.G., (1998). To be or not to be: Central Questions in organizational identification. In Whetten D.A., & Godfrey P.C. (Eds.): Identity in Organizations: Building theory through conversation (pp.171- 207). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Differentiation from Commitment Organizational identification and organizational commitment are a types of employee attachment. Identification is the degree to which individuals believe they and the organization are one entity, whereas commitment is the degree to which individuals think they have a strong relationship with the organization.Van Knippenberg, D. & Sleebos, E. (2006). Organizational identification versus organizational commitment: Self-definition, social exchange, and job attitudes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27, 585-605. For example, identification involves "possessing" or "sharing" the organization's values, whereas commitment involves "accepting" the organization's values. Customers, owners and employees can identify with organizations, although most researchers examine employee organizational identification. Sources of Organizational Identification Because individuals tend to identify with organizations that share similar characteristics to themselves and that they admire, organizations can increase employee organizational identification by emphasizing similarities between the organization and employees, and enhancing the organization's reputation. Pratt, M.G., (1998). To be or not to be: Central Questions in organizational identification. In Whetten D.A., & Godfrey P.C. (Eds.): Identity in Organizations: Building theory through conversation (pp.171- 207). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Another way to increase organizational identification is to emphasize threats from an outgroup (i.e. a competing organization) Riketta, M. 2005. Organizational identification: A meta-analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior . Recent Research David R. Hekman and colleagues recently found that organizational identification improves professional employees' (e.g. physicians) performance qualityHekman, D.R., Steensma, H.K., Bigley, G.A., Hereford, J.F., (2009) Hekman, D.R., Bigley, G.A., Steensma, H.K., Hereford, J.F., (2009) “Combined Effects of Organizational and Professional Identification on the Reciprocity Dynamic for Professional Employees.” Academy of Management Journal. Volume 52, Number 3. http://journals.aomonline.org/inpress/main.asp?action=preview&art_id=473&p_id=1&p_short=AMJ and reduces professional employees' resistance to information technology.Hekman, D.R., Steensma, H.K., Bigley, G.A., Hereford, J.F., (2009) “Effects of Organizational and Professional Identification on the Relationship Between Administrators’ Social Influence and Professional Employees' Adoption of New Work Behavior.” Journal of Applied Psychology. Hekman et al., (2009) also found that organizational identification makes employees more responsive to favorable organizational treatment and more forgiving of unfavorable organizational treatment. For professional employees (e.g. doctors, lawyers) professional identification is also important to such workers' behavior. Measurement Items Mael & Ashforth's (1989) scale is one of the most commonly used measures of organizational identification. Mael, F. & Ashforth, B. 1992. Alumni and their alma maters: A partial test of the reformulated model of organizational identification. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13: 103-123. 1. When someone praises my organization, it feels like a personal compliment 2. When someone criticizes my organization, it feels like a personal insult 3. I am very interested in what others think about my organization 4. When I talk about my organization, I usually say “we” rather than “they” 5. My organization’s successes are my successes 6. If a story in the media criticized my organization, I would feel embarrassed see also *Job satisfaction *Organizational commitment *Work (attitudes toward) References Category:Organizational psychology Category:Organizational studies and human resource management Category:Organizational constructs